The High School Broad Jump

[June 9, 2026]  That was me standing in a line of about seven other young teenage boys about to participate in the broad jump at Cooper High School in 1968.  It would be my first track meet for all of us on the JV team.

I would be in five events for this first track meet, but it was the jump that made me love the sport.  I was about to experience an unforgettable event  worthy of remembering.

The 1968 track season ran from March through May, just before the weather started getting too hot, and Abilene, Texas (which sits on the edge of humidity) was fortunately and pleasantly dry that day.

Like so many of my teammates, we were more interested in the girls than our performance or weather, and it showed.  That was to be expected for boys coming of age.

My broad jump distance, now called the long jump, was just under 20 feet and nowhere close to a record but pretty good for the time.  Our  head coach also put me in for the 220 and 440 yard run, shocking me because I’d never run this distance before, and I was embarrassed in the event.

There was this cutie red head who was watching us from the bleachers.  I smiled.  She smiled back.  This is the kind of event that makes the hard workouts worthwhile.

Our track team was UIL 4A state competitive and so we were popular; not me but the seniors were like rock stars.  I was hanging onto their coattails.  But hey, I was there.

Sometimes participation itself has value. Better to be in the arena and lose than to have never tried at all. And that has been part of my personal philosophy of life. There may be a payoff; fame, glory, money, or just the smile of a girl.

I never knew her name. But I was in the arena.

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Photo: The day Edward Tanner won the broad jump cup; the Old Shirburnia Society.

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Please read my books:

1. “55 Rules for a Good Life,” on Amazon (link here).
2. “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” on Amazon (link here).